Mean Martin Manning just wants to be left alone. He’s been inside his apartment for 30 years, living amongst his frog figurines, his clocks, and his television. He doesn’t want or need human companionship. I can definitely relate to that! Sometimes I just want to read my books and shut out the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, caseworker Alice Pitney has other ideas for Martin. She intends to better his life by forcing him outside and into interacting with others. Martin’s life begins to devolve quickly, with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. The courtroom scene is very funny. Its unclear just what organization Alice works for and she’s allowed to do things in this story that I don’t think anyone would legally be able to do but what do I know?
There comes a point at which Martin is not going any farther with this new routine and he sets out to get even with all of the people he reckons have fouled up the comfortable life he had. These include a dog trainer, a TV talk show host, a doctor, and a judge, among others.
Martin’s antics in achieving his revenge/justice are mostly very comical until the last one. It left me confused. It seemed he suddenly veered from his usual attitude and lost his momentum. This is really the only detail that detracted from an otherwise funny book about a cranky old man.

*I received my copy through the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.* ( )

“Mean Martin Manning” by Scott Stein is hysterically funny and appallingly honest. Martin Manning is an older man who just wants to be left alone. He hasn’t left his apartment in thirty year and has lived peacefully in that time. Of course, nowadays you can’t be a recluse without intervention from supposed do-gooders that want to help you help yourself. They want to make you fulfill your role in society, and that is exactly what Alice Pitney sets out to do for Martin Manning.

After a week of his resistance, Pitney sends two “thugs” through his window in the middle of the night, causing an incident that lands him in the hospital. He then must defend himself in court against his fourth grade teacher and former employees, among others, to prove that he is leading a fulfilling life. When the judge sides with Pitney, Martin is forced to endure her self-improvement program along with the other, more willing residents of his building. Through this program, Martin is subjected to having his whole life ripped apart and his apartment stripped to the bar essentials. His diet is forcefully altered for his health so he can be the “best person he can be”. The strain of this on Martin, of course, is very high and he responds to his oppressors in a funny and justifiable way.

Martin Manning is an incredibly relatable character and the portrayals of the other characters, such as Pitney and Dr. Karen (presumably the fictional, female counterpart to Dr. Phil) are right on the mark. Stein captures the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of self-help programs (among other societal concepts) that force perfectly content people to do outrageous things. Some people can’t leave well enough alone and Martin teaches them the effects of this until the very end. If you want an entertaining, hilarious, page-turning plot then you should DEFINITELY read “Mean Martin Manning”. It’s engaging, well written and full of laugh-out-loud surprises. ( )

Potential spoilers.

Absolutely perfect. Mean Martin Manning is the story of a man who just wants to be left alone. He lives in his apartment and avoids all human contact. When a social worker attempts to "help" him by getting him to leave his apartment, a war of sorts is begun.

Manning is forced to undergo therapy due to a new government bill. He resists help the entire time, forced to change his diet and his daily routine, and when things take a turn for the ...more Potential spoilers.

Absolutely brilliant. Mean Martin Manning is the story of a man who just wants to be left alone. He lives in his apartment and avoids all human contact. When a social worker attempts to "help" him by getting him to leave his apartment, a war of sorts is begun.

Manning is forced to undergo therapy due to a new government bill. He resists help the entire time, forced to change his diet and his daily routine, and when things take a turn for the worse, things get very, very interesting.

I love every aspect of this book. The whole process of getting him to leave his apartment, the "therapy", the escape, the revenge, the cliffhanger at the end...amazing. Manning is clearly the most intelligent person in the novel, and yet he is forced to change his life for the "better". This raises the issue of whether the government has the right to help us for our own good. Banning certain foods because they aren't healthy, for instance, is ridiculous. People should have a right to control their lives as long as they aren't hurting anyone else.

Last but not least, I just have to say I think this would be an amazing movie. I could see it playing out in my head as I read the story.

All in all, amazing book. Read it. ( )

I recently read a fantastic, hysterically funny book, called "Mean Martin Manning." Author Scott Stein has crafted a very real and relatable world in his novel about a man who just wants to be left alone to live his life the way he wants.

I wasn't quite sure if I was going to like this novel, but once I got into the story, the plot grabbed me and didn't let go. Martin, for all of his mean ways, is so relatable to anyone who lives in this day and age. Desiring to be left alone to enjoy his frogs and processed meats, all of that changes the day Alice Pitney knocks on Martin's front door. It seems several new laws have been passed while Martin has been shunning all human contact, allowing the state to decide what's 'best' for everyone. In Martin's case, Alice decides that what's best for him is no more processed meats, no more television, or clocks, or even the right to decide when the lights should be turned off.

Martin isn't taking this lightly though, and he's absolutely determined not to cave into Alice's demands. His creative ways of getting out of group-bonding events and other acts of sabotage left me laughing, but what really made me smile was what happened after Martin struck out on his own. His acts of revenge, and the final few paragraphs of the novel, had me smiling the whole time I was reading. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I will say that I should have seen it coming.

It's not all light-hearted reading though; there are a lot of serious issues inside this novel, several of which I've discussed previously with both "$everance" and "Junk." Zagorski and Martin both plan out acts of sabotage against the people in charge, although Zagorski is only fighting for his severance check; Martin is fighting for the right to wear a bathrobe if he wants to.

And just like in "Junk," there's a whole war on food going on, although this time it's not so much a general banning of things, but more of a centralized discrimination against the people that the state has decided can't make their own choices anymore. It's scary when you think that one day, someone in 'power' could decide that you no longer have the right to make your own choices anymore, that you aren't capable of deciding what foods to eat. "Junk" takes it farther, but still for Martin it's a fairly traumatic turning point.

If you're in the mood for a funny, sarcastic, well-plotted book with a side of social issues, I highly recommend "Mean Martin Manning." ( )